What Is Stress Related Hair Loss And How To Deal With It ?!

by Petra

My mom lost her first child, a boy, when he was just 1 year and 8 months old. With a two year old of my own now, I cannot imagine what that was like for her. 

Nobody should ever go through the pain of losing a child. It was something we have had to work through as a family, even though I was not born until 2 years later.

I was told about my brother very early on, so I knew what he looked like, and how happy he made my parents. I knew what his first shoes looked like, and I always wondered what it would have been like to have an older brother in my house – how much fun it would have been.

When my brother passed, my mother told me that she had lost all of her hair in the middle of her head. As I was growing up I would see her struggle to get her hair back. 

She tried everything she could think of on the market – all the popular stuff, and some not so popular ones suggested by doctors. She did clinical trials and had her scalp examined under a microscope but nothing worked.

What Is Stress Related Hair Loss And How To Deal With It ?!

We were beginning to think that hair loss from stress or trauma could not be recovered that there was no hope. The monkey wrench in this scenario is that her sisters who have not had the same stress also lost their hair as well.

My grandfather, it appears, had passed the bald gene to them, which means that my mom would have probably lost her hair anyway. It was a double whammy!

Hair loss from stress is real, even if you have genetic related factors when you go through trauma, you can lose your hair.

It’s hard to talk about hair loss from stress without getting a little bit scientific, due to it being a medical condition and all. Don’t worry this will not take long.

There are three types of hair loss that is associated with stress:

Trichotillomania – This is the urge to pull your hair from your scalp and other areas of your body that might have hair. Sometimes we do this because we are nervous, bored, stressed or tense. The thing is who knew there was a scientific reference for it?!

Telogen effluvium- This is where significant stress pushes a dramatic amount of hair follicles into the resting phase. With hair combing and washing all of the hairs will fall out over a few months.

Alopecia areata – This is probably the one that we have been most familiar with and severe stress is considered a possible cause. With Alopecia, the body’s immune system attacks the hair follicles which causes stress.

How to deal with stress related hair loss

See a doctor

It makes sense to get a proper diagnosis before making any assumptions, so seeing a doctor is the first step. If your hair loss is stress related, then the doctor might have some immediate help that you can make use of.

It might not come back

From experience, I can tell you it isn’t easy to jump start your hair back to normal. It is better to just get the bad news out of the way first and know that there is a small possibility that your hair might not grow back in the way that you want to.

With my mom her loss was caused from stress and genes, which might have been too much for her hair to recover from. She has had very little success, but has learned to live with what she has accomplished so far.

Get some rest

If stress is the source you have to get rid of the stress, one of the best ways to do that is to get some sleep. Do what you need to do to get yourself 7 to 8 hours of sleep every day, at the same times if at all possible.

This can be very difficult for some of us especially those of us who do shift work, but at least you know that this is on the list.

Eat healthy

I would say eat mostly plant based, because this really helped my mother in ways I couldn’t even imagine. Plants are the source of many nutrients that feed the hair follicles, and greatly improve your health over all.

Make fruits and vegetables a high priority. Juicing is a great way to get it all in quickly, and not to mention, a really fun habit to have.

Exercise

This is another thing that really helped my mother: she did cardio, and lifted weights. But I have been encouraging her to get into yoga and meditation, because Lord knows if you have stress, a little yoga can make a world of difference.

Not to mention, my mom needs to take it easy anyway. Squats are great, but can one of you tell her just doing a little yoga daily is ok too? Sigh.

See a therapist

Therapy is a good thing – don’t be ashamed to make that appointment to see a professional or even to have a therapeutic conversation with someone you trust.

Stress will eat you alive, if you don’t get it out in the open. Talk about it, cry it out or whatever it takes to relieve the tension.

Time

With some things, we have to wait. We need to do all of the above, but give our minds time to adjust, and our bodies time to heal. Scalp and follicle healing takes time. It is important to realize that and not add more stress to yourself, when you notice hair loss.

It is very hard, and you will need the support of your family. For my mom, having me and my youngest brother, along with the support of family helped her get through it.

Take the time you need to focus on you; do a little yoga, and find a shoulder to lean on.